Another Windows Replacement
 

I am always on the hunt for a great new replacement for windows, and although nothing could probably replace it 100%, I have found something that is probably 95%.

Check out XandrOS it is a Debian based linux OS that from right out of the box is setup to work with windows boxes. I had problems with it at first but it was due to bad hardware in my desktop, I loaded it on my laptop and have been messing with it. The deluxe version for $89 comes with Codeweavers CrossOver Office which allows you to run windows apps on a linux machine.

Upgrading, maintaining etc is all a snap. Check it out if you are interested http://www.xandros.com , another one that is supposed to be good yet I have not tested is Lycoris http://www.lycoris.com.

Andy

As a windows replacement, Xandros is quite nice. Very easy setup, very seamless interface. Based on Debian.

I run Debian Linux as my desktop, and run VMWare and Crossover Office. Crossover Office is included in the Deluxe version of Xandros. You are right, Xandros is easy. I don't think it performs as well as my machine does -- but then, I've spent a lot of time tweaking.

Another good one, also based on Debian, is Ubuntu. Personally, if I were going to pick one to replace and be compatible with windows, Xandros would be it.

If you can get by with Gimp rather than photoshop, Evolution rather than Outlook, Firefox rather than IE, etc -- then, Linux can work.

Quickbooks is still marginal when running under Crossover which requires me to run it under VMWare.

Of course, I still use vi to edit html (and I still suck at html/design)

Photoshop, Microsoft Office and Dreamweaver and many other apps run on CrossOver office and they are adding more all the time.

You can also run win4lin on any linux box, but you still need a copy of windows. Basically it allows you to access windows from linux and run apps in windows as you do now but on a linux machine instead and without all the hassles of viruses. I have already found Firefox and Thunderbird to work better than the Microsoft alternatives, and the nice thing about Thunderbirds email client is that if you have a dual boot windows & linux machine you can share the same mail files betwee linux and windows, that way when you switch back and forth the same mail is on both operating systems.

You scare me. lol

Personally I use that other none Windows OS.

Vi is actually a great editor, but for html? That seems a little much when there are a lot better alternatives for unix platforms out there :)

But Vi is my first choice for any editing while in a shell as well.

I just wish Compaq would resurrect VMS and make a better XWindows GUI for it - Id be in wonderland :) - too bad they threw away all that Digital had

you can also do this using imap. In fact, you can have your home machine and laptop use imap, and, when you're not in front of either machine, use webmail to access the same mailbox. Squirrelmail is a pretty easy install and works pretty well. There are others that also have a number of features.

I used thunderbird for a week after evolution messed up, but, went back because thunderbird just wasn't intuitive to me.

I guess since I don't code and just use a shell's text editor to modify a crontab or something like that I use Pico when I can. I always have to have a cheat sheet handy if I need to use Vi.

Vi is the default editor in Mac OS X.

Aww, come on, you've never even seen me. haha.

I am just absolutely terrible at design. I cannot create a nice looking page or graphics to save my life. So, I don't touch graphics programs (hey, I had to use imagemagic to rotate an image 90 degrees because I couldn't figure out gimp)

A while back, I created a graphic and Mike@Wyldesites chuckled a little and in 15 minutes redid the logo and it looked spectacular. Compared to what I did, mine looked like I used crayon.

So what's stopping you?

http://www.wherry.com/gadgets/retroc.../vax-simh.html

One of my tech guys has about 15 different emulators. There are a number of them out there. In fact, there is a Sinclair ZX-80 emulator that even flickers the screen when you are in fast mode -- just like the real thing. Some people have far too much time on their hands.

Boot DUA0 |jester| I love it!!!!!

Ya know the funniest part is that I got to learn computing back in the days of room size CPUs - the IBM 418, Univac 1004 etc where we used paper tape punch coders and had a crew of clerks that did nothing but entering code on punch cards for us. Then mounting tapes and running a program on timeshare (usually at night since the Govt got priority) just to print out a picture of a line-art naked female LOL

I still have my favorite relic - a patch board (about 2ftx2ft) that had holes in it for the patch cables to route the program code properly - the cables came in different lengths and were color coded LOL

And my original tape deck I used to run my favorite Adventure game from on my first "home" computer - of course back then a Commodore Vic was the fastest thing out there but had no disk drive - damn Apple had to spoil everything with those floppy disks.

Here is a screenshot of what it looks like just in case anyone is interested of how it all looks. So far things are running great. Only thing I have not been able to get to work is Stats Remote (havnt messed with it too much).

http://multemediadev.gotdns.com/web/snapshot1.jpg

It looks like the offspring of what would happen if a Mac and Windows mated. lol

install k3b (if it isn't there already) its a really nice burner for CD/DVD.

XMMS is just like winamp

openoffice.org replaces microsoft office (and can read 99% of the microsoft office files) I have found though -- if you are going to save in word format, save in word97 when exporting to people. Certain things don't work in the newer formats when created in openoffice.org (this goes for the windows version too)

Other than that, I've been using Linux as a desktop for ~3 years. It has improved vastly, however, there are still things that just don't work the way they should.

Like faxing -- I can fax, but, getting gfax to read the contact list from evolution so that I don't have to retype info, that's a pain. It does work, but, nothing like installing Winfax and having it read the Act Contact Manager. Winmodems usually don't work. I have an SL Modem in my laptop that I can talk to, but, every attempt to dial fails, so, I have to get a pcmcia modem. Centrino chipsets are mildly supported by Linux because Intel won't release certain specs.

Basically, if you are going to experiment with linux, I suggest you get relatively popular hardware. That Taiwan no-name video card that does 2 billion pixels, probably won't work optimally in linux. ATI, GForce/Nvidea (through proprietary drivers), and many of the 'retail' brands are well supported.

My Sony camera wasn't supported when I got it, but, 2 months later it was. Webcam support was removed due to a fight by the kernel developers. A new, different approach is there after a month or so of discussion (flamewars)

Certain wireless cards are not well supported. Broadcom chipsets generally require ndisdriver or linuxant to load properly. The older 802.11b is well supported in most cases.

So, if you have a spare PC sitting around, you can also try Knoppix.net -- it is a live CD -- you burn the CD and boot from it -- you don't need to format your hard drive or anything. It contains many of the applications that you would use and runs right from the CD.

Test with Knoppix and you can get a general idea whether your machine will work well under xandros.

Want the XP look on linux:
http://art.gnome.org/themes/metacity/645/
http://art.gnome.org/themes/metacity/501/

I believe these are somewhat Maclike:
http://art.gnome.org/themes/metacity/490/
http://art.gnome.org/themes/metacity/503/

Originally I hated the lookalike themes because I figured, if you're going to fix problems that the interface has (I really hate the XP Task oriented interface), then you should fix not imitate.

Then I realized, if you were going to drop linux boxes in place to replace windows machines, you sort of need that similarity for the people that aren't techies and just want to get their work done.